EL 132 | American Immigrant Literature (Spring 2011)

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Am Lit Author Links: Before ~1860  |  1860 - 1910  |  1910 - 1945  |  1945 ff      

General US Immigrant Lit / Immigrant Experience Links


SCHEDULE
Jump to:
Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6 - Week 7
Week 8 - Week 9 - Week 10 - Week 11 - Week 12 - Week 13 - Week 14 - Final

Week 1 (Feb. 1 and 3)
Remember that you need to either PRINT online texts or have some way (Kindle? iPad? Laptop?) to view your electronic copy in class.

Day 1: No Class Yet

Day 2: Introduction to the Course

Day 3: Gardner, Chapter 1 +
Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” (Ben Franklin) +
Watch “Jennifer 8. Lee Hunts for General Tso

Remember that you need to either PRINT texts for class or have some way (Kindle? iPad? Laptop?) to view your electronic copy in class.  Showing up for a discussion without a copy of the text under discussion is super lame.

Week 2 (Feb. 6, 8, and 10)


Day 1: Selections from The Relation (Cabeza de Vaca) + Selections from A Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (de las Casas)  (Texts available in our Blackboard "Readings" section.)

Day 2: Gardner, Chapter 4 (but skip the two stories in Gardner) +
“No Name Woman” (Maxine Hong Kingston) (On Bb)

Day 3: Guided Writing 1 (No new reading, but bring a paper copy of whichever text you've most interesting/compelling so far, and bring along the handout with rhetorical triangle, Foucault terms, etc.  Laptops allowed/encouraged for guided writing days.)

Week 3 (Feb. 13, 15, and 17)

Day 1: Gardner, Chapter 5 +
"The Magnificent Seven" (The Clash, YouTube)
"The Magnificent Seven" (The Lyrics, More or Less)
"Ninth and Hennepin" (Tom Waits, YouTube)
"Ninth and Hennepin" (Words/Lyrics)
"Oread" (H.D.)
"Arrival" (Judith Ortiz Cofer)
"Ducks" (Naomi Shihab Nye)

Day 2: Poetry, Cont. One Additional Poem

Day 3: Poetry, Cont. Four Additional Poems
"My Father and the Figtree" (Naomi Shihab Nye)
"For My Father" (Janice Mirikitani, available via Bb)
"Refugee Ship" (Lorna Dee Cervantes, available via Bb)
"Refugee Blues" (W. H. Auden)

Week 4 (Feb. 20 and 22)

Day 1: One Additional Poem: "Persimmons" (Li-Young Lee, available via Bb)

Day 2: Poetry, Cont., Inc. Prosody Discussion

Day 3: No Class (Faculty Development Day)

Week 5 (Feb. 27 and 29, Mar. 2)
Friday (Day 3): Essay 1 Due by 5:00 pm + Turn in Guided Writing Portfolio

Day 1: Guided Writing. Bring the poem you intend to write about for Essay 1. (Check the list of eligible poems on the assignment sheet!)  Laptops welcome/encouraged.

Day 2: "Why They Came" from A Nation of Immigrants (John F. Kennedy) + Selections from American Passage (Vincent J. Cannato) + "The Mother Tongue Between Two Slices of Rye" (Gary Shteyngart)

Additional Links (Not Required Reading):
"There are No Cats in America" (Audio from An American Tail)
"There are No Cats in America" (Video from An American Tail)
Visualizing Immigration (Flawed but Interesting)

Day 3: "Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian" and
"In the Land of the Free" (Edith Maude Eaton/Sui Sin Far) +
“An English-Chinese Phrase Book” (Wong Sam and Assistants)

Additional Links (Not Required Reading):
Chinese Exclusion Act (archived at PBS/The West)

Week 6 (Mar. 5, 7, and 9)
NEXT Monday: Notice that Exam 1 is NEXT MONDAY!

Day 3: The Promised LandChapter 1 and Chapter 9 (Mary Antin) +
"America and I" (Anzia Yezierska) (Note: The Antin is available online or via Blackboard.)

Day 2: Yekl (Abraham Cahan), Chapters 1-5.

Day 3: Yekl, to the end.

Week 7 (Mar. 12, 14, and 16)
Monday: Exam 1
Monday or Tuesday NIGHT: In Time of War
Screening

Day 1: Exam 1

Day 2: “Seventeen Syllables” (Hisaye Yamamoto)

Day 3: “In the American Society” (Gish Jen)

<<SPRING BREAK>>

Week 8 (Mar. 26, 28, and 30)

Day 1: No-No Boy (John Okada), Chapters 1-3

Day 2: No-No Boy, Chapters 4-7

Day 3: No-No Boy, Chapters 8-11

Week 9 (Apr. 2 and 4)
Friday (Day 3): Essay 2 Due by 5:00 pm

Day  1: Guided Writing.  Complete assigned prewriting before class, and bring along your copy of the work you have chosen to write about for Essay 2.  Laptops welcome/encouraged.

Day 2: "The Politics of Recognition" (Excerpt) (Charles Taylor)

Day 3: No Class (Good Friday)

Week 10 (Apr. 9, 11, and 13)
Friday (Day 3): Any (100% Optional) Revisions of Essay 1 Due by 5:00 pm

Day 1: "Searching for Gold Mountain" (Ronald Takaki)

Day 2: Gardner, Chapter 6 + David Henry Hwang: “Searching for Chinatown”

Day 3: FOB (David Henry Hwang), Act 1

Week 11 (Apr. 16, 18, and 20)

Day 1: FOB, Act 2 + Guided Writing

Day 2: I Don’t Have To Show You No Stinking Badges! (Luis Valdez), Act 1

Day 3: I Don’t Have To Show You No Stinking Badges!, Act 2

Week 12 (Apr. 23, 25, and 27)

Day 1: Zoot Suit (Luis Valdez), Act 1

Day 2: Zoot Suit, Act 2

Day 3: Guided Writing.  Bring your copy of the play you have chosen to write about for Essay 3.  Laptops welcome/encouraged.

Week 13 (Apr. 30, May 2 and 4)
Monday or Tuesday NIGHT: Far and Away Screening
Wednesday (Day 2): Essay 3 Due by 5:00 pm + Turn in Guided Writing Portfolio


Day 1: "Emigrants from Erin" (Ronald Takaki) + (In Class)
View/Discuss Clips from Zoot Suit; Monday or Tuesday Night: Far and Away Screening

Day 2:     Far and Away Discussion + Essay 3 Due by 5:00 pm + Turn in Guided Writing Portfolio

Day 3: View/Discuss Charlie Chaplin's The Immigrant
(Linked version = lower quality, worse music than in-class.)

Week 14 (May 7 + Exam)

Day 1: TBA/Catch Up/Review

Thursday, May 10, 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Exam 2



Some Additional Author Links (In Order of Appearance)

Bartolome de las Casas (1474-1566)


Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (c. 1490-1558)


Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952)

Texts Online
Nineteen Varieties of Gazelle (1994, Google Books)
Fuel (1998. Google Books)


Mary Antin (1881-1949)




Anzia Yezierska (c. 1881-1970)


Hisaye Yamamoto (b. 1921)

Arizona Relocation Authority Camps: 1, 2, 3
Picture Brides: 1, 2


Luis Valdez (b. 1940)

I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!

Zoot Suit
Zoot Suit: The Documentary (Doc. by MCAET)
Zoot Suit Riots (PBS/American Experience)
Links from PBS on Zoot Suit Culture (PBS/American Exp.)

Other Links
Local Legends: Luis Valdez (1 Hr. Documentary by MCAET)
"Necessary Theatre: Luis Valdez" (2008 Interview at UCSD)
Calo/Chicano Slang (Wikipedia)